The Red Chamber: The Rise of the Lin Mansion

Lin Yunchong reminded He Chang: "General He, it is fine to provide food and vegetables, but let them pay for it themselves."

When Lu Xiaozhang heard the words, he said anxiously: "How can this be so? Let foreigners buy it by themselves, wouldn't it make them laugh at our Dachu officials for being stingy and rude."

Zhou Fang: "This matter is absolutely unfeasible. If foreigners are to sue His Majesty, we will all be charged with being slow messengers."

Lin Yun was speechless for a while. However, after all, he had a low official position and was not qualified to argue with a few people. He could do as he pleased.

Chapter 276: Meeting Wang Ziteng for the first time

On April [-], Lin Yun and Zhou Fang accompanied the British mission to Tongzhou.Xiao Jiaxuan, the left minister of the Ministry of Rites, and Liang Kang, the minister of Honglu Temple, led a group of officials to greet him at the pier.

That night, Xiao Jiaxuan and Liang Kang hosted a banquet in the Tongzhou Government Office in honor of the British delegation.

In the morning of the next day, Xiao Jiaxuan, Liang Kang and several officials from Great Chu held the first meeting with the British Mission. Lin Yun, as the Chinese interpreter, witnessed the whole process of the meeting.

Lin Yun was shocked when George Macartney announced the gift to the Emperor of Chu on behalf of King George III of Great Britain.

These gifts include advanced astronomical instruments invented in Europe, such as large-scale orrery, globe, moon phase display instrument, air vacuum pump, mechanical skill frame and so on.

There are also advanced industrial machines, including steam engines, spinning machines, carding machines, and looms that make Lin Yun salivate.

What surprised Lin Yun even more was that there were many ordnances in the gift, including Mauser guns, rifles, carbines, rifles, repeating pistols, howitzers, watermelon cannons, etc.

Other gifts included chime clocks, dioramas, binoculars, tapestries, wall hangings, and many iron and steel products, which opened Lin Yun's eyes.

What surprised Lin Yun even more was that there were two cars in the gift, making him wish he could take one home for fun.

...

Lin Yun was overjoyed with the gifts from the British Mission, but other officials were not interested in these gifts, and even Xiao Jiaxuan failed to see the value of these gifts.

He just politely expressed his gratitude to the King of Great Britain on behalf of the Great Chu Emperor, and then changed the topic to various etiquettes for receiving missions.

As Lin Yun expected, the two sides had a dispute over the etiquette of meeting the Great Chu Emperor, and Xiao Jiaxuan insisted that the envoy bow down.George Macartney strongly disagreed.

The two sides had seen each other, arguing endlessly, which exhausted Lin Yun and the translator from Great Britain.

The talks lasted from morning to evening, with only half an hour of rest in between, but still no results were reached.

That night, after discussing with officials from the central government, Xiao Jiaxuan decided to send Zhou Fang back to report to Emperor Zhide, requesting the emperor's sanction.

...

On the afternoon of the [-]th, the emperor sent his chamberlain to convey the order, ordering Xiao Jiaxuan to take the British envoy to the capital, and Zhou Muzhai, the chief minister of the cabinet, came forward to negotiate with the other party.

On the morning of the [-]th, Song Yue, the second assistant to the cabinet, led several officials from the Ministry of Household Affairs to the Dongcheng Pier to greet the British delegation. After a few brief greetings, the two sides took a carriage and drove towards the city.

Lin Yun was called by Song Yue into the carriage and rode with him.

Inside the carriage, Song Yue asked Lin Yun, "I heard from Zhou Fang that you can speak Western dialect and also help the mission as an interpreter. What's going on?"

Lin Yun explained: "I have been interested in overseas countries since I was a child. Later I met an old man who was doing business in Guangdong and learned a few words of Western from him. Last year when I was studying in Jinling, I met another man who was doing business in Guangdong. A woman who works as a translator in Guangdong Province studied with her for a while.”

Song Yue asked in surprise, "Women can also be translators?"

"Yes, the woman's father is Portuguese and also a businessman. She can speak several languages."

Song Yue nodded, and then said: "Your Majesty and all the ministers in the court are very dissatisfied with the envoy from Great Britain's entanglement in etiquette. In your opinion, will the foreigners finally compromise?"

Lin Yun thought for a while and said, "It's hard. Westerners regard kneeling as humiliation. George Macartney is a British nobleman. If he kneels to the emperor here, his reputation will be ruined when he returns."

Song Yue: "How do the courtiers of Great Britain salute when they meet their emperor?"

"Their ministers always bow when meeting the king."

After Lin Yun finished speaking, he put one hand on his chest and demonstrated a bow.

Song Yue frowned and said, "This kind of simple etiquette, not to mention your Majesty, even the ministers in the court would not agree to it."

Lin Yun was speechless for a while. These people only cared about a meaningless etiquette, and no one cared how far the science and technology of Westerners had developed.It can be seen that sooner or later, Da Chu will be repeatedly ravaged by the British.

...

After the team entered the city, it immediately attracted crowds of people along the way. They had never seen Westerners before, but they were still amazed that so many foreign devils came here at once.

After sending the British mission to Honglu Temple for resettlement, Lin Yun was ready to go back to the mansion to rest, but before he left, a servant came to convey the emperor's oral order, ordering him to go to Wenzhou together with Song Yue, Xiao Jiaxuan and Liang Kang. See you in Hua Dian.

Lin Yun heard from Lin Ruhai that the Wenhua Palace is the place where the emperor convenes important court officials to discuss matters. A small Hanlin from the sixth rank like him usually has no chance to participate.This time, Lin Yun was very pleasantly surprised to be summoned by the emperor to the Wenhua Palace to discuss matters.

...

After the four people entered the palace, they were led by the chamberlain to the outside of the Wenhua Palace.

Not long after the chamberlain came in to make the announcement, someone announced in a high-pitched voice that they were going in to see the Emperor.

Walking in behind the three bosses, Lin Yun sneaked a few glances forward, and saw Emperor Zhide sitting behind the imperial case, with more than a dozen ministers standing on both sides, all looking at his nose and his nose. The mind stands still.Among these people, Lin Yun only knew Prince Xuan, Xiao Jing'an, and Peng Yang.

The four of them went forward to salute Emperor Zhide together,

After the ceremony was over, several people found their positions and stood up. Lin Yun didn't know where to stand. After thinking about it for the last time, he ran to the end of Prince Xuan's side and stood still.

Emperor Zhide asked Song Yue: "Song Qing, has the British mission been settled?"

Song Yue stood up and said, "Reporting to Your Majesty, I have arranged for the British Mission to rest at Honglu Temple. The envoy of Great Britain, Earl George Macartney, has asked my Majesty to thank His Majesty on his behalf."

Emperor Zhide nodded slightly, then turned to Xiao Jiaxuan and asked: "Xiao Qing, come and introduce to the ministers the status of the negotiations with the British mission."

"The humble minister respects the decree."

Xiao Jiaxuan immediately stood up and introduced the negotiation situation with the Great Britain Mission in detail to everyone. When he said that the negotiation was deadlocked due to the dispute over etiquette, a minister stood up from the left and rushed to the Emperor De saluted and said: "Your Majesty, the envoys from Great Britain are too rude. I suggest that you put them aside and let them dry first. I believe that they will recognize the situation and submit automatically after a while."

Lin Yun heard the words and said in his heart: "This guy is really sinister. Once this trick is used, Macartney will be very uncomfortable."

He was slandering in his heart when he saw Prince Xuan stand up and rushed to Emperor De to salute, "Your Majesty, Yang Cifu's words are inappropriate. My Great Chu is a majestic dynasty, how can I do such a despicable thing."

Lin Yun heard this and thought: "It turns out that he is the second assistant Yang Hong."

Seeing Yang Hong retort: ​​"Since the prince thinks the suggestion of Weichen is inappropriate, I don't know what countermeasures you have?"

Prince Xuan said with a dark face: "If the old man has a countermeasure, why should you stand here and discuss it?"

Yang Hong: "In that case, let's try Wei Chen's method."

Emperor Zhide glanced at the veteran standing in front of Yang Hong and asked him: "Zhou Qing, do you think Yang Qing's suggestion is feasible?"

The old minister standing in front stood up, rushed to Emperor De and saluted: "Reporting to Your Majesty, the old minister also thinks that Yang Cifu's suggestion is inappropriate. It doesn't matter if the two sides have differences. Let's just discuss it slowly with the British mission. Anyway, they are in a hurry, and we No need to rush."

Lin Yun cursed in his heart: "Zhou Muzhai is more insidious than Yang Hong. He is cheating foreigners openly and makes people unable to find fault."

Emperor Zhide nodded in satisfaction and said, "Zhou Qing's words are reasonable, so let's do as you say."

"The old minister respects the decree."

Emperor Zhide said again: "Ning Yu, come and assist Zhou Qing in negotiating with the British envoy."

"My dear brother, I respect your orders."

A military officer stood up from behind Prince Xuan and bowed to Emperor Zhide.

Lin Yun thought: "It turns out that he is Prince Zhongshun."

At this time, Xiao Jiaxuan stood up again and rushed to Emperor De to report: "Your Majesty, I still have something to report."

Emperor Zhide: "It's okay to speak up."

Xiao Jiaxuan took out a memorial from his bosom, raised his hands above his head and said, "This is the gift list presented to His Majesty by the British Mission."

Emperor Zhide: "Xiao Qing, come and read it to everyone."

"The humble minister respects the decree."

Xiao Jiaxuan opened the notebook and read it carefully.

Lin Yun took a peek and saw that none of the ministers in the palace were surprised. He sighed secretly in his heart, "These are the top officials of Dachu, but none of them know what they are doing. It's really sad."

After Xiao Jiaxuan finished reading, Dai Quan, who was standing next to Emperor Zhide, gave the little servant below him a wink. The servant immediately ran over, took the memorial from Xiao Jiaxuan, ran back to Dai Quan, and handed the memorial to Dai Quan. he.

At this time, Xiao Jiaxuan rushed to Emperor De to report: "Your Majesty, the envoy of Great Britain, Earl George Macartney, invited His Majesty to inspect their troops."

Zhou Muzhai hurriedly stood up to dissuade him: "Your Majesty, I feel that Your Majesty cannot go."

Prince Xuan: "The old minister seconded the proposal."

"My minister agrees."

Lin Yun suddenly felt a little embarrassed when he saw everyone standing up to dissuade him.Second, it's not his sincere words. If you don't second, it will make people think that he has bad intentions.

Emperor Zhide took the folder Dai Quan handed him, glanced down at it, and then said to Lin Yun: "Lin Yun, please tell me whether I should go to review the army of Great Britain."

Lin Yun stepped forward and said boldly, "Your Majesty thinks that His Majesty should go."

Prince Xuan said angrily: "Nonsense, how could Your Majesty go to inspect foreign troops? If someone has misbehavior, can you take responsibility?"

Lin Yun hurriedly explained: "Your Majesty, please calm down. I just said that Your Majesty should go. If you feel that it is not safe for Your Majesty to go, can you choose a general to go to the inspection instead of Your Majesty?"

Prince Xuan's face softened a little when he heard the words, and said: "The words are reasonable. Your Majesty, the old minister is willing to help."

Emperor Zhide: "I have someone to choose, so I won't bother Uncle Wang."

After finishing speaking, he shouted behind Prince Xuan: "Wang Qing."

"The minister is here." A military general stood up from the front, rushed to Emperor De and cupped his fists to salute.

"Wang Qing, after Zhou Qing and the others have negotiated with the British Mission, you can inspect the British army instead of me."

"The minister respects the decree."

Lin Yun stared closely at the middle-aged general in front of him, curious, "Could this be the new Minister of War, Prince Teng?"

...

Chapter 277: Playing with Fire

After the discussion was over, while the ministers were respectfully sending the emperor away, Lin Yun hurriedly moved to the gate of the palace, preparing to leave this place of tigers and wolves while everyone was not paying attention.

Unexpectedly, before he could sneak out of the palace, he heard Prince Xuan's voice coming from behind, "Boy Yun, you didn't come over to say hello when you saw me. Where are you in a hurry to go?"

Lin Yun turned around in embarrassment, and smiled at Prince Xuan: "My lord, I haven't returned for several days. I'm afraid my family will be worried, so I want to go back and have a look."

Prince Xuan: "You are not going to fight outside, so there is nothing to worry about. Come here, I have something to ask you."

"Yes."

Lin Yun walked over with his head down, feeling a dozen eyes around him, as if an X-ray machine was looking at him.